Devotion 12.28.12

"Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." Luke 2:15

And so the shepherds speak in terms that would have driven several of my college professors insane, saying "thing" in a sentence.  It seems that "thing" is an over-used, non-descriptive word in the world of academia. It lacks precision. The temptation to use "thing" is great because it's general and covers a wide-array of subjects or objects. 

"The thing about the game yesterday...."  "The thing that drives me crazy these days...." You get the idea because you use it too. So, here are the shepherds, awestruck by the sight of an angel, and then further a heavenly host singing "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased!" (Luke 2:14) The shepherds have just learned about the birth of the Christ (in a form of announcement not available to mortals here on earth, we seem to be awestruck by gender reveals that have a small detonation that blows up blue or pink).

The angel plainly says, "...you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger," (2:12) to which the shepherds say, "this thing that has happened."  This is why I am convinced these were common laborers, skilled in the methods of tending flocks. They were blue collar types in those days of everyone being blue collar except those privileged in some way.  They've been spoken to by an angel, sung to by a chorus, and the best they can say is "this thing." The thing about it is, their lack of precision still meant something to them, and to God. They knew and He knows what we mean.

Paul tells us in Romans 8 that "...we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words." (v.26) The shepherds go on to start the process of spreading the good news of Christ immediately after seeing him in the manger, clearly not worrying about the precision of their language.  That had to be quite a night, from one angel to several to Christ himself.  Their joy and excitement had to be overwhelming as they left feeling compelled to tell anyone who would listen about the good news of what they had witnessed.

Our prayer is that we, too, share that same level of joy and witness to the good news of Christ to others.